Skeletons

We keep silent because we are afraid… scratch that: I keep silent because I am afraid.  Afraid that if you saw my heart you would not stay that if you saw me… You would run off screaming.

I want to write literary works of art, which everybody reads and is blown away by awesomeness. Here goes; I am not always awesome.

Today I was with a group of friends and one of my girls shared how she felt unworthy because her life was not where she wanted it to be… I have felt unworthy.

Unworthy to speak into anybody’s life, to comfort, encourage, admonish… my life was simply not in order. But if I forgot that, ignored my failures, my closet full of Ezekiel’s skeletons… 

This is what I would say.

There is hope. Hope after every hurt: self-inflicted, inflicted by others or whatever comes in-between… 

There is hope. Hope after you have messed up every single thing you touch; relationships, projects, dreams…

There is hope. Hope after your worst nightmare proves to be a wide-awake moment. After what is precious is taken from you.

There is hope. Let me show you where you can find it… Follow me.

“He sent me to give the good news to the poor. Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more. Tell blind people that they can see. And set the downtrodden free.” Luke 4:18

Let me show you which part speaks to you: 

Are you poor?

Financially, emotionally, intellectually, physically… you are simply inadequate?

Are you a prisoner?

Of your past, your failures, your experiences, others’ experiences, your fears, the unknown, your addictions…

Are you blind?

Unseeing of the beauty of life, hopeless, with darkened visage and bleak future… even physically blind?

Are you downtrodden?

By life, friends, family, insecurity… held down so close to the ground you see nothing else?

Well, right here is your good news, your hope.

“In Him we live and move and have our being…” Acts 17:28 “Behold the old has gone all things have been made new…” 2 Corinthians 5:17

With these few things I declare you free and myself worthy to speak peace into your life. I am not better than you… I have simply accepted my inheritance.

I KNOW whom I have believed!

He says I am Forgiven:
Last night I sinned, against you and my body
I have since scrubbed away at my sinful flesh
Yes, you have forgiven me,
Yes, you have made me pure
…but did you see what I did?

He says I am Righteous:
I sneak along, hugging the walls
Burdened by my sin
Head hung low
Spend nights Weeping, Begging
Hoping… to be made worthy

He says I am the Apple of His Eye:
Yet I draw close in fear;
Of the sin I surely forgot to repent of
Of the grime I surely forgot to scrub away
Of the words that may just not be holy enough
Of someone more worthy…
Needing the audience space I am taking up

He says I am heir and son:
And yet with the homeless skeptic I choose to dwell
To feed on scraps that fall off my own Father’s table
I call upon the universe to beseech my Father
To beg my Father on my behalf…
For my own inheritance

He says I was healed:
Gave me a clean bill of health, he did
But every time I sneeze,
Surely, I have caught something fatal
Surely, I need to see the doctor
Regularly, I visit this doctor
Hoping the check-up gives good news
But secretly suspecting that chest pain to be fatal…

I say I am who He says I am;
Forgiven and Righteous
The Apple of his Eye
His heir, His son…
So, with head held high,
I will enter his courts with praise
With thanksgiving receive my inheritance
With utter conviction walk away
From the pool where we used to scrub at our sin
I am worthy;
Of my Father’s table.

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day… 2Timothy 1:12

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace...Hebrews 4:16